Embodied Energy Calculations Research Articles

Large CO2 reduction and enhanced thermal performance of agro-forestry, construction and demolition waste based fly ash bricks for sustainable construction

The exhaust gases in production of burnt clay bricks is responsible for greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission which increase the carbon footprint in the ecosystem. Here, we report carbon emission and thermal performance based evaluation of 8 ft. × 9 ft. × 8 ft. building. The bricks used in building construction are manufactured from fly ash, agro-forestry wastes, construction & demolition wastes (C&D), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) using NaOH as activator in order to provide compressive strength in the range of 3–6 MPa with ambient curing at 30 °C for 28 days. Life cycle analysis (LCA) reveals the total CO2 emission for fly ash and burnt clay bricks estimated to be 43.28 gCO2 and 290 gCO2 per brick, respectively. Considering the current scenario, by replacing 1–2% of brunt clay bricks with agro-forestry waste, C&D waste based fly ash bricks can potentially reduce 0.5–1.5 million tons of CO2 emission annually. The embodied energy calculation shows fly ash based bricks consumes 10–15 times less energy as compared to burnt clay bricks. Thermal paremeters viz., U-value (0.5–1.2 W/m2K), thermal conductivity (0.4–0.5 W/mK) show adequate insulation of agro-forestry waste based fly ash bricks highlighting its importance of thermal comfort, CO2 reduction along with sustainable and eco-friendly construction practices.

A Unit Product Energy Mapping Framework for Operation Management in Manufacturing Industries

Sustainability has emerged as a primary concern across a wide range of industries, particularly in manufacturing due to its energy-intensive nature. To understand the environmental impact of manufacturing processes and make them less detrimental to the environment users monitor and track energy consumption data. Although this approach is valuable in assessing the overall impact, energy consumption mapping needs to be conducted per product to compare and assess different process strategies. Available research in literature, provides unit process energy consumption models in isolation from manufacturing operations, neglect of machine and operational variations, and limited consideration of detailed data acquisition for indirect energy consumption. This paper presents a comprehensive framework designed to address the existing gaps in the literature on energy consumption mapping within the manufacturing industry. The proposed framework provides a solution by offering a structured approach to data collection, analysis, and utilization within manufacturing processes, aiming to achieve two main outcomes: the calculation of embodied energy per unit product and the provision of systematically analysed data for operation management to enhance energy efficiency. Four key steps constitute the framework: data acquisition, simulation and modelling, impact assessment, and operation management. The data acquisition step involves the identification of manufacturing process flows, equipment specifics, and process parameters, emphasizing machine operation requirements and power readings. These elements are systematically logged into a database providing essential information for both embodied energy calculation and simulation purposes. Results obtained from simulations are subjected to analysis in the impact assessment step to assess embodied carbon and overall environmental impacts. The collective findings from the first three steps are then utilized for operation management.

Reducing Life Cycle Embodied Energy of Residential Buildings: Importance of Building and Material Service Life

Energy use in the building sector is considered among major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions and related environmental impacts. While striving to reduce the energy consumption from this sector, it is important to avoid burden shifting from one building life cycle stage to another; thus, this requires a good understanding of the energy consumption across the building life cycle. The literature shows greater emphasis on operational energy reduction but less on embodied energy, although both have a clear impact on the building’s footprint and associated environmental impact. In previous studies the importance these energy aspects have been presented; however, the critical role of embodied energy linked to the replacement of materials over a building’s life is not well documented. Therefore, there is a knowledge gap in the available the literature about the ways to reduce the embodied energy requirements of buildings over their useful life. Service life of buildings and their constituent materials may play an important role in this regard. However, their potential role in this respect have not been explored in the previous research. This study critically addresses the above-mentioned gaps in the literature by investigating the combined effect of building and material service life on life cycle embodied energy requirements of residential buildings. Life cycle embodied energy of a case study house for an assessment period of 150 years was calculated based on minimum, average and maximum material service life values for the building service life of 50, 100 and 150 years. A comprehensive input–output hybrid analysis based on the bill of quantities was used for the embodied energy assessment of the initial and recurrent embodied energy calculation for each scenario. The combined effect of building and material service life variations was shown to result in a reduction in the life cycle embodied energy demand in the order of up to 61%. This provides quantifiable and verifiable data that shows the importance of building and material service life considerations in designing, constructing, and managing the buildings in efforts to reduce energy consumption by buildings. A secondary contribution of this paper is a detailed sensitivity analysis which was carried out by varying the material service life values of each building material and the embodied energies for each new scenario was recalculated for two assessment periods. The findings show that, for each material service life variation, the LCEE increases as BSL increases for a 50-year assessment period, but the LCEE decreases for a 150-year assessment period.

SOFTWARE APPLICATION FOR EMBODIED ENERGY BUILDING CALCULATION: A REVIEW

There are two types of building energy consumption, namely embodied energy and building operational energy. Studies on operational energy have been widely discussed, while studies on building embodied energy are still quite rare to be studied, especially in Indonesia. In fact, the calculation of embodied energy, especially on embodied energy material, is important in the design phase of the building because it can be used as the basis for various determinations of building energy values ​​and carbon emissions generated by buildings due to construction activities. By using the right tools in the embodied energy calculation, the building planner can determine the right embodied energy value so that it can support the building energy mitigation. This paper aims to explain the use of embodied energy building calculation software that have been developed with the aim of providing an overview and supporting research development of embodied energy building in Indonesia.

Embodied Energy Consumption in the Residential Sector: A Case Study of Affordable Housing

Embodied energy has a significant effect on the total environmental impact of a project. However, emphasis is often placed primarily on operational energy, resulting in a knowledge gap about the current state of embodied energy use in affordable housing. To address this, the study investigates the level of embodied energy consumption in affordable housing, as well as the drivers, barriers, and techniques to reduce embodied energy. Based on a single embedded case study covering the period from cradle to end of construction, data were collected using embodied energy calculations of three affordable housing units in the project, semi-structured interviews with five design team members, and a cross-examination of findings with contract documents. The results were analysed using sensitivity analysis and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that all three house units fulfilled the baseline embodied carbon target of 800 kg CO2/m2 and both detached properties fell within the LETI (2020) target of 500 kg CO2/m2. However, all three properties would fail to meet the RIBA or 2030 LETI target of 300 kg CO2/m2. This suggests that improvements are necessary to achieve future targets. The results show that financial capabilities and operational energy prioritisation act as the main enabler and barrier for reducing embodied energy. Local contractors/suppliers, minimising material use or intensity, and modular construction were highlighted as the key reduction techniques that can be used to help achieve future targets concerning embodied carbon in residential developments. The study contributes significantly to understanding the current state of embodied energy use in affordable housing and provides new insights on how to deal with embodied energy if we are to meet future energy targets.

Sawdust and soil block as wall in simple buildings to gain the optimum heat and embodied energy in humid tropical area

Red bricks are widely used in Indonesia. The process of making red brick itself causes many problems such as the combustion process and the creation of air pollutant during the production process. On the other hand, waste from timber industry in Indonesia, which is called sawdust, becomes a problem that need to be solved by the woodcraft industry. Therefore, this study aims to substitute the use of red brick as wall material as well as reducing the waste of woodcraft industry by mixing sawdust waste with clay and cement as an alternative. The purpose of this study is investigating the performance of sawdust as wall material in terms of heat transfer and embodied energy in buildings compared to red brick. This study aims to analyse the optimum composition of sawdust as wall material to gain a balanced heat and embodied energy in simple housing. The study investigates sawdust wall in building with the size of 36m2 by using simulation software called Archipak. The embodied energy calculation uses standard embodied energy per unit. The research variable is the thickness of sawdust walls. The result of this study is the thickness of sawdust wall with minimum heat transfer and embodied energy.

Evaluating the temporal representativeness of embodied energy data: A case study of higher education buildings

According to the United Nations approximately 40–50% of the annual global energy supply is consumed by the building sector, which underscores the importance of reducing the energy consumption in buildings. A building’s life cycle energy consists of embodied and operating energy. Embodied energy (EE) is utilized in the processes of raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, repair, maintenance, and demolition, whereas operating energy in operating the building over its service life. EE calculations are heavily data-dependent and are, therefore, susceptible to issues related to data quality. Studies showed that the temporal representativeness of data is one such data quality that may significantly influence the accuracy of embodied energy calculations. In this study, we evaluated the temporal variations that occur over 5- and 10-year periods in the EE intensities at the material, direct and indirect EE, and building levels. These values were calculated using the input–output based hybrid models developed for the years 2002, 2007, and 2012. Results show a significant change in not just the magnitude but also the type of energy sources embedded in both direct and indirect EE components. Over the 10-year period analysed there is a 36% reduction in the total energy use and fossil fuels contribute to 76% of this reduction. The direct EE component increased from 14% in 2002 to 20% in 2012 for both our case study buildings. Results also indicate that the share of electricity in the total EE may be gradually increasing. The results further highlight the importance of using temporally representative data to ensure the high quality of EE calculations. Energy source specific EE results indicate that using outdated (10-year-old data) may overestimate the total EE for buildings by ca. 85%.

Life cycle assessment of earthen materials for low-cost housing a comparison between rammed earth and fired clay bricks

PurposeAlthough the use of diverse types of bricks as the primary construction materials has been considered for many years, vernacular earthen materials are also widely used for construction with low potential environmental impacts in developing countries. In this study, the life cycle of two types of building materials for wall building is investigated.Design/methodology/approachFor this purpose, life cycle carbon emissions (LCCO2) are compared and embodied energy calculation for rammed earth and fired clay bricks as two construction materials. The complete construction chain using rammed earth, as a modern norm, and fired clay bricks, as the most common construction materials in buildings, is investigated in this research.FindingsStudies on the constructions in Kashan city in the north of Isfahan province, Iran, as a case study, showed that replacing the fired bricks with rammed earth would reduce the CO2 emissions up to 1,245 kg/ton and 4,646 MJ/ton (i.e. more than 95%) of the embodied energy. It also shows that the choice of building materials should be important for building practitioners to consider the environmental impact.Originality/valueThis paper provide life cycle assessment of building materials. The findings of this study help builders and owner to choose sustainable building materials.

Footprints of failure: Quantifying carbon impacts of roof leakages in a single-family residential building

To meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals of climate change mitigation and sustainable cities, low-carbon or carbon-negative buildings are becoming increasingly common. The buildings are planned to compensate for the embodied energy in their materials by using low-emission materials and generating emission-free energy. Embodied energy is minimized while energy generation is maximized. However, embodied energy calculations seldom consider the risk of building defects that require repairs or early replacement of building elements. As such, a building’s sustainability is often calculated under the assumption that significant defects do not happen, which is known to rarely be the case. In this article, the material and monetary costs of repairing building defects are analysed. Findings suggest that certain building defects, like major roof leaks, have a significant carbon footprint. A large portion of this footprint can be attributed to the drying of the building after a leak is discovered. Building defects are common enough that the risk should not be neglected in life cycle analyses. Likewise, measures taken to reduce the risk of building defects, such as avoiding design solutions known to pose difficulties, may be considered as means to improve the sustainability of a building as well as reducing economic costs.

A web-based tool for streamlining environmental decision-making in building design

The construction industry is an important driver for economic growth, but it is also a major contributor to global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. A plethora of sustainable design tools and rating schemes have been developed in an attempt to improve the environmental performance of buildings. Regardless of their increasing adoption by the construction industry, much of the existing focus is on improving the operational performance of buildings. However, a more holistic life cycle approach that also considers material production is critical. Despite this, limited information and tools are available that consider the full life cycle at the point where decisions can have the greatest impact – at the early stages of design. This paper presents a web-based tool to assist environmental decision-making by providing information on the life cycle energy loadings of building envelope assemblies at the early stages of design. Real-time embodied energy calculations are combined with cloud-based building energy simulation within a graphical user interface that enables exploration of different alternatives through interactive visualisations. This paper describes the tool, an output of over 10 years of research, and how it can be used to inform building envelope assembly selection to reduce life cycle energy.

A comparative study of life cycle carbon emissions and embodied energy between sun-dried bricks and fired clay bricks

This study presents a comparison of the life cycle carbon emission (LCCO2) and embodied energy calculation between two kinds of bricks, sun-dried and fired clay, as means of evaluating the energy and climate impact of each brick type and the economics of production. Focus is paid to the differences across the whole production chain between sun-dried clay bricks, which represent the traditional norm, and fired clay bricks, which are the most widely-used walling materials in conventional buildings. A case study was carried out in Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. The results of this study show that if sun-dried bricks are used instead of fired bricks, a reduction of up to 5907 kg CO₂e (in CO₂ emissions) and 5305 MJ of embodied energy for every1000 bricks produced could be achieved. The paper concludes by offering alternative scenarios for brick-making and suggestions for improving sun-dried brick production. The methodology used in this study contributes to the development of an investigative-comparative way to assess choices between building materials. It also intends to help inform local homeowners and building practitioners not only in Egypt, but also globally, about resource depletion, energy consumption, and harmful emissions from fired industrial bricks as a common building construction material.

Assessing energy and emissions savings for space conditioning, materials and transportation for a high-density mixed-use building

This paper introduces a combined framework for the analysis of building-related and transport-related emissions, to allow the comparison of a new high-density mixed-use development concept with traditional urban development patterns. The framework accounts for the energy and emissions arising from the operation of the building, the materials needed to build it, and the transportation of the residents. This provides a novel means to compare the impact of urban form on both building-related and transport-related emissions simultaneously. The building analysis performs detailed building energy simulations and embodied energy calculations. The transportation analysis estimates emissions reductions from eliminating personal vehicle trips through the mixed-use nature of the building, provision of an electric vehicle car sharing fleet, and a public transit hub with a rapid transit line. The framework is used to assess the new concept, referred to as a ‘Mothership’, which provides a potential holistic solution to urban sprawl through high-density mixed-use development that meets the needs of 10,000 people. It includes a high-performance building envelope, advanced energy systems, a public transportation hub and electric car sharing fleet. The analysis compares this method of development to the ‘urban sprawl’ that has characterized new development in North America. The comparison is performed for two case studies in British Columbia, Canada. Results show that the Mothership could reduce operational and embodied emissions by 73% and transportation emissions by 58% compared to low-density suburban development. A key takeaway is that transportation and embodied emissions become much more significant as operational emissions are reduced through high performance building design and clean electricity.

Assessment of Embodied Energy for an Institutional Building

Today, developing nations are witnessing an unprecedented pace of urbanization in the wake of industrialization and globalization. This is giving rise to an ever increasing demand for housing and infrastructure to support the growing population and its activities. Embodied energy is the energy in total needed in manufacturing and extracting the raw materials, energy consumed for transportation and the external energy applied to raw materials in producing or assembling the final product. In this project, Energy accounted in different material used for construction of this building is calculated. All the material used for construction is accounted and Embodied energies of different materials has been worked out. The Embodied energy calculation arrived based on energy consumed for production and Transportation. With the estimated total quantity of all the materials and the energy, an analysis about the major contributors of embodied energy has been studied and comparisons have been made across different materials between the production and transportation energies. The values have been normalized and a tool has been made on a platform called Spyder to generate the embodied energy calculation for the provided inputs. Suitable alternative material, which consumes less Embodied energy is suggested.

Assessment of Embodied Energy/ U-Value in Historic Buildings of Karachi-Pakistan

The benefits of reusing historic and existing buildings versus those of constructing new buildings are frequently discussed considering economic, cultural, and design values. If those discussions are expanded to include environmental impact, one must address the topic of embodied energy. Due to the recent focus on sustainable construction practices; conservationists have explored the benefits of building conservation in relation to embodied energy calculations. Such studies are popular in international market and became important ground for expanding restoration practices. In our local context it is comparatively a newer domain.Different methodologies have been devised by Advisory Council for Historic Preservation (ACHP), in year 1979, for assessing the embodied energy calculations in historic structures. For performing the respective study, inventory model of assessment has adopted. The focus of this study is “to provide practical guidance on how to calculate embodied energy/ u-value in historic structures of Karachi and promote the concept of adaptive reuse from the environmental perspective”. “If more widely and comprehensively used, embodied-energy assessment can be a benefit to preservation and sustainability advocates alike.”Mike Jackson

Is Embodied Energy a Better Starting Point for Solving Energy Security Issues?—Based on an Overview of Embodied Energy-Related Research

Embodied energy is termed as the total (direct and indirect) energy required to produce economic or environmental goods and services. It is different from the direct energy measurement of energy consumption. Due to the importance of energy security, it has attracted increasing attention. In order to explore whether and to what extent embodied energy can provide a more innovative approach and competitive perspective to energy security issues, 2608 relevant pieces of literature from the Web of Science core collection are analyzed in this study. Results show that embodied energy has been taken seriously. Moreover, by reviewing the typical literature, this paper first summarizes the embodied energy calculation methods and models, then investigates how embodied energy provides a new perspective to energy issues, and lastly analyzes how to show value in energy security issues in its application of guiding policy-making and energy security studies. In summary, there is no doubt that embodied energy can provide a more integrated perspective on energy consumption and demand and provide a more scientific reference for policy-making to enhance energy security. However, because of data and application scope limitations, establishing a comprehensive energy security research and application system with embodied energy measurements needs hard work.

Leveraging material efficiency as an energy and climate instrument for heavy industries in the EU

Material efficiency is indispensable to reaching agreed targets for industry's energy and carbon emissions. Yet, in the EU, the energy- and emissions-saving potentials of this strategy continue to be framed as secondary outcomes of resource-related policies. Understanding why material efficiency has been overlooked as an energy/climate solution is a prerequisite for proposing ways of changing its framing, but existing studies have failed to do so. This paper fills this gap by triangulating interviews, policy documents and three policy theories: namely, historical and rational choice institutionalism, and multiple streams framework. Factors discouraging material efficiency as an energy and climate strategy include: difficulties in reframing the prevailing rationale to pursue it; the inadequacy of monitored indicators; the lack of high-level political buy-in from DG Energy and Clima; the ETS policy lock-in; uncoordinated policy management across Directorates; the lack of a designated industry lobby. Policy solutions are proposed. Before 2030, these are limited to minor amendments, e.g. guidance on embodied energy calculations or industry standards. Post-2030, more radical interventions are possible, such as introducing new fiscal drivers, re-designing the ETS emissions cap or benchmarks for allowances. This evidence suggests that the transition to a low-carbon industry will require Member State- and industry-level action.

Embodied Energy Calculation of Small-Scale Biogas Plants in Rural Areas of Bangladesh

Installation of a biogas plant consumes a considerable amount of energy especially in transportation and manufacturing of various biogas plant construction materials. Energy conservation has become one of the important issues of today’s world for reducing greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere and for reducing the costs of materials. This paper is focused on some issues relating to embodied energy in a biogas plant, particularly in the Bangladeshi context. Energy consumption in the production and transportation of basic biogas plant materials (such as brick, cement, sand etc.) and other materials used for construction has been discussed. Data has been collected from 20 small-scale biogas plants (2.4 m 3 , 3.2 m 3 , 4.8 m 3 ) located in different rural areas of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It is found that the embodied energy of 2.4, 3.2 and 4.8 m 3 biogas plants are 9.4 GJ, 11.4 GJ, and 22.7 GJ respectively. Around 59-63% of total energy is costs by bricks, 29-33% by cement, 1.5% by sand, 3-5% by PVC pipe, 1% by HDPE pipe and 0.5% by steel used to install the plants. It is also found that the energy required for the production of the construction materials was 83-85% of total energy required while transportation energy was 16-17%. However, a complete analysis of energy input for the installation of a small scale biogas plant in Bangladesh has been described in this paper which will hopefully be helpful for further research in this sector.

Embodied energy analysis of higher education buildings using an input-output-based hybrid method

During construction and operation, buildings consistently consume nearly half of the global energy supply, indicating a huge potential for reducing annual carbon emissions. This energy use includes operating energy and the three key life-cycle embodied energy components: initial embodied energy (IEE), recurrent embodied energy (REE), and demolition energy (DE). Embodied energy is consumed directly through processes and indirectly through products installed in a building. Unlike operating energy, measuring embodied energy is a complex, unstandardized, and very data-intensive process. Each available embodied energy calculation method differs in its data sources, system boundary coverage, and limitations. An IO-based hybrid (IOH) method could provide more complete, reliable, and study-specific results if appropriate improvements are made to the IOH model. In this study, we developed an IOH model for the United States’ economy by integrating human and capital energy and computed the IEE of five higher education buildings. The results suggest that using an aggregated construction cost for calculating IEE may underestimate results in comparison to using disaggregated construction cost components because the calculated values of IEE increased significantly after the cost disaggregation. The relative proportions of different energy sources also changed considerably because of the cost disaggregation.

Type simple house walled CEB which efficient heat energy and embodied energy in Indonesia

Efficient energy on heat energy and embodied energy in a simple house type in Indonesia needs to be observed. The type of house is very closely linked with the building area. It is necessary to know in order to determine the type of house by developers or for the government in terms of the energy. This energy efficiency is important because energy is a world problem that must be saved. The buildings in this study using Compressed Earth Block (CEB) wall material. CEB is a low-energy building materials and local material. This material is a type of brick, but not through the process of burning. The research problem is the type of house which one has energy efficient? Because it is not always type with a small area will have energy efficient. The method used was the optimization of the heat energy in this case the cooling load with embodied energy. The research variables was the building floor area is reflected in the type of building. Cooling load in a building was calculated for a year, simulating calculations of the cooling load performed by software Archipak. While the embodied energy calculations using the standard embodied energy per unit. The results showed that the type of building optimal heat energy and embodied energy is a type of building 70 or a building type with the largest area. Building that has a small embodied energy will produce heat energy which is small as well.

Embodied energy analysis of building materials: An improved IO-based hybrid method using sectoral disaggregation

Buildings consume approximately half of the annual energy supply of the United States in their construction and operation. To effectively decrease this extensive energy footprint, both embodied and operating energy must be quantified and optimized. Although validated standard methods are available to compute operating energy, quantifying embodied energy is still complicated and inconsistent. Among the available embodied energy calculation methods, an input-output-based hybrid (IOH) method has the potential to offer a more complete calculation. However, its calculation lacks specificity and reliability, which can be improved using suggestions provided by literature. Studies across the globe have proposed techniques such as sectoral disaggregation to enhance not only the specificity and reliability, but also the completeness, of an IOH method.This study investigated and improved an IOH method of embodied energy calculation. Using the improved method, the embodied energy of commonly used building materials was calculated and evaluated. The results demonstrate a significant difference after disaggregating the relevant industry sectors. The study concludes that using embodied energy values without industry sectors being disaggregated can cause significant errors in a building’s embodied energy calculation.